Bryan Kohberger, the former criminology Ph.D. student charged with the 2022 murders of four University of Idaho students, was granted a plea deal to avoid the death penalty in June 2025. He was sentenced to four consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole. After the murders of Kaylee Goncalves, 21, Madison Mogen, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20, and Ethan Chapin, 20, Bryan was arrested at his parents’ home in Pennsylvania on December 30, 2022. He is the youngest child of Michael Kohberger Jr. and MaryAnn Kohberger and has two older sisters, Amanda and Melissa Kohberger.
Following Bryan’s arrest, his family released a statement via his public defender, showing support for Bryan, while also expressing sympathy for the victims’ families, per The New York Post. “We have fully cooperated with law enforcement agencies in an attempt to seek the truth and promote his presumption of innocence rather than judge unknown facts and make erroneous assumptions,” they said. “There are no words that can adequately express the sadness we feel, and we pray each day for them.”
Here’s everything you need to know about Bryan’s family.
Michael Kohberger Jr.
Both of Bryan’s parents were employees of the Pleasant Valley School District for many years. Michael was a maintenance worker for the school district from 2006 to 2019, according to The New York Post. Weeks after the killings, Michael had flown out to Washington to travel home to Albrightsville, Pennsylvania with his son, according to Newsweek. In mid-December, the father and son drove for about 2,500 miles in the white Hyundai Elantra that police had told the public to be on the lookout for. Bryan had stayed with his family through the holidays, until his arrest on December 30.
Both of Bryan’s parents were also subpoenaed to testify in front of a grand jury in May 2023, per CNN. Sources told the news organization that an attorney for them tried to have the subpoena thrown out, but he was unsuccessful.
Following the Idaho murders, it was revealed that Bryan had been arrested in 2014 on misdemeanor theft charges for allegedly taking his sister’s phone, as reported by ABC News. It was Michael who had contacted law enforcement about the stolen property. Bryan did not serve jail time for the incident.
MaryAnn Kohberger
MaryAnn Kohberger was also employed by the Pleasant Valley School District until 2020. She worked as a paraprofessional assisting special-needs students, according to The Post.
Besides her work in the school, MaryAnn occasionally wrote letters to the local paper, Pocono Record. In June 2022, she wrote one reflecting on school shootings in America. She also shared a poem that her daughter had written about the tragic shooting in Uvalde, Texas. “As I sat this morning, reeling from yet another school shooting, I found myself wrestling with which actions need to be taken to stop all the madness. What is the answer? Gun control measures? Mental health intervention?” MaryAnn wrote to the paper. “As I read the poem, I thought, whatever the solution, I pray we consider the children before the gun.”
Amanda Kohberger
Not much is known about Bryan’s older sister, Amanda. Following her brother’s arrest, it was reported that both she and her sister Melissa were fired from their jobs in March 2023, according to The New York Post. While it’s unclear what Amanda did for work, she was once an actress, with a single credit in the 2011 horror film Two Days Back, according to IMDb.
Mel Kohberger
In a letter to the Pocono Record, MaryAnn wrote that Mel worked as a mental health therapist in New Jersey.
As mentioned earlier, her mother also shared a poem she had written about the Uvalde Elementary School shooting, which left 19 students and two teachers dead and injured 17 others. Like her sister, it was reported that Melissa had been fired from her job.
In January 2026, Mel broke her silence on her brother’s conviction during an interview with The New York Times.
“I have always been a person who has spoken up for what was right,” Mel told the publication, before insisting, “If I ever had a reason to believe my brother did anything, I would have turned him in.”
